180's Communications Director Rocky Camus, Festival Director Diego Buenaflor and Chairman Vinci Roxas at the 180 Microcinema Festival 2011 press conference last Oct. 13

MANILA, Philippines – The 180 Microcinema Festival (180) will be all about transmedia this year.

In a nutshell, the 180 is an annual online event where filmmakers showcase their works in the Narrative, Documentary and Experimental categories. However, unlike existing festivals in the country, 180 only accepts films that are 180-seconds long (three minutes). In addition, filmmakers can also utilize unconventional tools in filmmaking.

“Transmedia,” as explained by the festival’s Communications Director Rocky Camus to Bulletin Entertainment and other members of the media last Oct. 13, is a new way of filmmaking where the audience – specifically the netizens – is involved in the actual process.

“Audience involvement becomes multidimensional. The Internet community can help filmmakers in several ways: from creating content, giving the film publicity and even funding the film. And at the same time making the whole project a hobby, an experience. Something bigger than just a movie,” he said.

For his part, 180’s Chairman Vinci Roxas explained, “Audience participation is now the driving force of online films. It used to be that the viewer is a passive entity. You had things delivered to you like the radio, TV and even the cinema. But nowadays it’s all about audience participation.”

With this, Roxas differentiated transmedia from traditional filmmaking. In transmedia, filmmakers need to create their films first for exhibition in order to build their audience. This is as opposed to the traditional process where finances need be raised first in order to make the film. The final output is then sold to film distributors before it gets promoted to the public.

Call for entries

From Oct. 15 to Dec. 15, 180 will accept submissions on its website, www.180cinema.net, for its Narrative category. Diego Buenaflor, 180’s Festival Director, explained that entries for Documentary would be accepted beginning January next year.

Roxas said that interested filmmakers would have to pay a $10 processing fee via withoutabox.com, “but that’s only to deter people who aren’t serious.”

The films will initially be screened by the festival organizers for “gratuitous sex, violence, nudity, obscenity, racism or libel,” in addition to profanity and copyright issues before it will be available for public viewing on the 180 website.

Two winners will be selected, one for the Jury Selection and one for the Audience’s Choice Award. This year’s jury panel will be headed by Stefanie Walmsley, the Academy Award-winning producer of the 2010 film “God of Love.” According to a press release, Walmsley will be joined by “producers and key people behind various productions, among them films such as 'Valkyrie' and ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’"

As for the Audience's Choice, viewers are allowed to vote for multiple entries, once per film. The Awards Ceremony will be held at the Powerplant Cinema of the Rockwell Center in Makati City, date to be announced.

Winners will be given the Transmedia Development Deal amounting up to $30,000.

“We’ll fund it [the film and] get sponsors [for it]. We’ll start a crowd-sourcing marketing campaign, and then [the filmmaker] can make more 180-second films. And then when [the filmmaker] find[s] that [his] audience is large enough or that [he has] reached [his] target market, then [he] can make a full feature film.

“It’s the best way to hone talent and, at the same time, giving them a platform for exposure and allowing these filmmakers to create a name for themselves,” Roxas explained.

The competition is open internationally to anyone 18 years old and above. For the complete list of rules and more information on 180, please visit www.180cinema.net